Chapter 6: Friday, 2:00 P.M.
On Friday morning, I told Grant I was taking Lily to her first pediatrician appointment. He kissed my forehead and said he had “a work thing” after lunch.
At 1:45 p.m., I was sitting in a small conference room on the second floor of Lakeshore Title, holding my daughter. Mr. Okafor sat on my left, a silver-haired man in a navy suit who looked exactly like someone my father would have trusted. On my right was Detective Ana Ruiz from the county’s financial crimes unit.
Kayla was in the room next door. She had given a full statement on Wednesday, and Mr. Okafor had negotiated for her: complete cooperation in exchange for not being charged. She’d agreed before he finished the sentence.
At 1:58, I heard Grant’s voice in the hallway, warm and charming, joking with the receptionist about being a new dad.
He walked into the closing room across the hall with a leather folder under his arm. Through the glass, I watched him shake hands with the buyer’s representative and the escrow officer. He sat down. He uncapped a pen.
The escrow officer slid the first document across the table. Grant signed it.
Then she slid over a second page and asked, very politely, “And the seller’s spouse? We have a note that Mrs. Hale’s confirmation is required.”
Grant smiled and pulled a single sheet out of his folder. “She signed this morning. She’s home with the baby.”
Detective Ruiz stood up.
I didn’t go in right away. I let her walk across the hall first. I watched Grant’s smile freeze when she showed her badge. I watched him look at the paper in his hand, my name written across the bottom in handwriting that was almost, but not quite, mine.
— The End —
This story was written with AI assistance. It is fiction.